A Strangle of Veins
by PurpleTwister
Summary: Set after D/K The Joker is locked up in Arkham, but is no longer considered the most dangerous patient, since the arrival of two ex-military projects section by Bruce Wayne, How will he react to this, and could he use them to his own advantage. Joker/oc
1. Flashes of Purple

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Batman genre – this encompasses all films and cartoons in the Batman universe. This is a fanfiction based on the Nolanverse, hence any characters from Batman Begins, and the Dark Knight, do not belong to me, and I am not making any profit from this story. The Batman is the creation of DC comics.

Hi all this is my first fanfic, really hope you like it, first chapter is more to set the background of the new characters I have created for this story, there will be more of the Joker and his interaction with them in the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think :-)

Chapter One: Flashes of Purple

The rain outside was getting heavier, replacing the silence in the car with a dull thumping rhythm that made the already dismal circumstances of their journey tonight seem all the more bleaker. Jim Gordon glanced at the rear view mirror to look at the young girl, seated between two of his officers. She sat rigidly with her head bowed down, still staring intently at her feet. Silvery-white strands of hair masked most of her face, but he spotted the silent tear stains that had ran down one of her cheeks. He felt sorry for the poor girl; having to go through this, she was barely 15, her life so far pretty much being one of suffering and anguish. He sighed to himself sadly, thinking back on the files he read about her and the rest of her siblings' past. To think people could justify causing so much pain to young children, in the name of science and military research, it was wrong.

He was glad for the girl that Wayne Enterprises had stepped in but also very wary of the consequences; Bruce Wayne had bought out the research labs that had been testing on these children, but in the process of doing so, he had created an uproar amongst military officials and had developed some very powerful enemies. Plus the media was kicking up a storm over it all, trying to question anyone involved with the children on how safe they felt it was to bring them to Gotham in the first place. It had caused so much controversy that the media and public had almost sidelined the death of Harvey Dent, the witch hunt for Batman and all the destruction caused by the Joker......almost. He was sure that that man still loomed in the minds of Gotham's citizens, like he did in his.

Still Bruce Wayne was definitely a brave man to take them under his wing. He had been allowed to adopt Estell, currently in the car with him, and her older brother Alex, aged 17, who had refused to come along. They now lived with him at his apartment complex as they were deemed safe enough for this to happen. However some people had their reservations about this. Jim was unsure what to think about it himself, but so far they hadn't caused any problems over the past month of them living with Bruce. But the other two.....well...... it just hadn't been as simple as that for the twins, hence their car ride to Arkham. Years of experimentation and what he considered to be more than unpleasant alterations, had been the hardest on these two. They had definitely taken the brunt of the testing. He was still unsure of what exactly the scientists had been up to. All he got from the files were that due to the childrens' unique abilities, inherited apparently from their deceased mother, the scientists had been trying to develop them into weapons for the military. It was mad to him.

Now the twins were considered to be a danger to themselves and society. Bruce Wayne had had no choice other than to send them to Arkham to, what he had told the press, allow them to receive medical help and a chance for a normal life. Truth be told, whether he had believed sending them to the asylum would help their psychosis, he had been presented with either sending them to Arkham or with the notion that they would have to be, not so kindly phrased, "put down". There was a lot of arguments over what would be best, a lot of people, the mayor included, thought they were too dangerous and protested against them being sent to the asylum, believing they were beyond hope, but Wayne was persistent in his belief that they deserved to be given a chance. Jim was thankful of this, after knowing what had happened to them, it would have been too cruel not to try to help them. Arkham wouldn't exactly be paradise for them, he was sure of that but he couldn't see any other solution, other than to give them back to the military research labs.

So here sat Estell solemnly in the back of his cop car; doctors had requested for Estell and Alex to visit their older twin brother and sister to aid in the rehabilitation process, so far it hadn't been going well. Alex didn't want to go, and Jim couldn't blame him, the boy had only just been freed from a life as a test subject, surrounded by people in white coats, Arkham would no doubt seem similar. Estell just wanted to see her siblings no matter how scared the situation made her feel. Wayne had meant to go but was called on an urgent business meeting, which Jim was sure had been about them, so he'd asked the commissioner to escort her for him.

He came out of his thoughts realising they were about 5 minutes away now, a shiver ran down his spine as he spotted the looming silhouette of Arkham in the distance. It had been barely two months since he had set foot in that horrible place, two months since he had personally escorted the insane clown prince of crime, The Joker, to Arkham. Much to his relief of course, the mad-man had caused so much chaos, so much grief and heart-ache, that the city of Gotham was still reeling from it all. Still he really disliked this place, even if its purpose stood for helping to keep Gotham's streets safer.

Jim cleared his throat catching Estell's attention, she lifted her head slightly and looked in his direction, she'd been listening carefully to his thoughts, concluding he was a kind man and maybe someone she could trust, though trusting people other than her brothers and sister was something alien to her and wasn't a notion she would rush into.

"We're nearly there Estell," Jim announced, turning round in his seat to look at her, "I know how uncomfortable you are about coming here, I just want to reassure you that nothing will happen to you in there, although this place isn't very pleasant and there are a lot of sick and dangerous people," the Joker coming to mind as he said this, "they are all locked up and can't hurt you. You'll also see a lot of doctors," he saw her tense up at that, "but they are nothing like the ones you have encountered, they help the people here, so don't be frightened by them, ok?" he smiled at her in hope of reassuring her further, but he wasn't convinced she was.

Estell simply nodded at him, bringing her head up fully to stare out the window as they came to the security gates of Arkham, the rain was still pouring down around them. Having only seen rain for the first time a couple of weeks ago she found it fascinating and had a strange urge to jump out the car and run around in it. She thought against it though, Jim Gordon and the other men in the car with her felt incredibly tense and it wasn't for the same reasons she was uncomfortable. She kept getting flashes of purple from them and a great deal of anxiety that came with it, in fact ever since she came to Gotham many of the people she'd encountered kept having this sensation, especially Mr Wayne. She was curious to delve further and understand it but she'd been told it was rude to do delve into a person's psyche, listening to the occasional thought here and there was good practise, but otherwise she shouldn't do it unless there was very good reason to. It was just all very strange.

The guards opened the security gates and the car rolled on through to the entrance. Estell's stomach began to tie up in knots as the car came to a halt and she spotted a stern faced woman in a white lab coat, standing at the front doors of the asylum. Jim Gordon opened his door and stepped out the car, the two men sitting next to her followed suit, it was just herself and the driver still left inside. Jim came round to the open door next to her.

"Come on Estell try not to be scared, remember what I said to you earlier." again he smiled at her and reached out a hand. She hesitantly took it, stepping out the car, instantly enjoying the sensation of the cold rain falling on her skin, it aided in calming her for a second then once again fear overtook her. She began to shake as Gordon lead her towards the women in the white coat, still sporting the stern unsmiling expression. She squeezed his hand hard as they reached the front door, he squeezed it back reassuringly as he addressed the psychologist in the doorway.

"Ms Evans I presume sorry we're........." he was cut off short.

"Its Dr. Evans," came a curt reply, "please follow me inside we're already very behind with today's schedule, thanks to your late arrival. She then turned abruptly and stormed down the corridor, not looking to see if she was being followed.

Jim mumble sarcastically under his breath about how it was nice to meet her, having been rudely cut off, and began to follow the psychologist down the hall, giving Estell a little nudge to follow as well. The other two police officers walked behind them silently, watching the small girl in front of them for any rash behaviour, they had been warned she might become overwhelmed and freak out.

Estell did not like this tall shrude woman at all, she was sour faced and had the same smug, self righteous attitude that she had come across in many of the female scientist back at the research facility. She shuddered remembering that horrible nightmare. So far this first encounter wasn't boding well on how she felt about her visit here, the similarity was making her very nervous, the knot in her stomach getting bigger, what if this place was just another testing lab, and this was all just a trick to capture her. Then all the painful tests will start over again. She had only been free for a month, it wasn't fair. Tears began to fill her piecing green eyes and She glanced at Gordon who was still frowning at the doctor in front of him. She began to slow her pace not wanting to carry on, Jim noticed and stopped to look at her, he saw tears begin to tumble down her face. They had pretty much come to a security barrier, where the female psychologist a head of them was showing the guard her clearance, and asking him to let them all through.

Estell had stopped moving all together now as well, the officers behind her glanced knowingly to each other, mentally preparing themselves to grab her if need be. Jim approached her, putting a hand gently round her shoulders. She tensed up at this not wanting to be in this situation any more and really wishing Alex was with her. The paranoia had set in, he was just being nice to trick her, they all were, so that they could bring her here where they've kept Tari and Val captive. It all made sense didn't it? But then why hadn't she detected any deceit in Mr Wayne or Mr Gordon's thoughts and why hadn't they forced Alex to come with her? Maybe she was just letting the fear overwhelm her.

"Estell, its ok, I thought you wanted to see you're brother and sister?" Jim asked softly he could see she was clearly unsure on whether she wanted to be here or not..

" Actually it will only be her sister Tari, we've had to heavily sedate Val, he was becoming too hostile and unstable so we've had to keep him in a comatose state, Tari will however be in constraints the whole time, she can still be quite volatile when she wants to be, we can't afford to have any more inconveniences today, if it was up to me I'd have them both kept in a coma".

Estell glared at the doctor, most of her fear momentarily being replaced with anger, this was noticeable to Dr. Evans as she saw Estell's green eyes flash dangerously at her. It was now common knowledge amongst the psychologists what that meant, having dealt with the twins for a month now.

"Is Mr Wayne absolutely certain this one is safe?" Dr. Evans asked Gordon nervously. He had also noticed the flashing glow in Estell's eyes, which faded as soon as it had appeared.

"As far as I'm aware Estell and Alex have behaved fine, and pose no threat to anyone, am I right Estell?" he looked at her a hint of worry in his face, its not everyday you see a person's eyes glow, even if it was for a second. What the hell did those people do to these kids?

Estell turned her glare away from the doctor having forgotten all of her previous fears and just wanted to make sure Tari and Val were ok. She saw the worry in Gordon's expression, instantly knowing why, a little embarrassed that her emotions could be so readable, and she softened her features.

"Um yes that's right, I just want to see them that's all, sorry I just really wish it didn't have to be here, its making me nervous," she turned back to Doctor Evans, her expression turning to one of dislike. "Alex and I can't do most of the things that Tari and Val are capable of, they put us through different experiments, they concentrated more on strengthening our telepathic capabilities."

Doctor Evans shifted her weight and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Estell but didn't respond, instead she tapped the bullet proof glass window, that looked in on the guard. There was a buzzing sound as the heavy door's bolts slid open and it became unlocked.

"Lets continue shall we." she turned and pushed the door fully open, which had been evidently sound proof, because everyone was suddenly met with the eerie echoing shouts and screams of various inmates situated beyond.

Gordon sighed to himself, it never gets easier when that door gets unlocked.

Estell was taken aback a bit as a wave of mental hysteria hit her when they ventured through the door, she bit her lip and shoved them all out, not expecting such a backlash. It was very easy to block out having been trained to do so, and it could have been avoided if she'd known it was coming, which in this case it hadn't been. Silly really she probably should have known better given the circumstances of where she was but her mind was a bit pre-occupied.

They were lead along long dank corridors, each with rows of cells filled with the asylum's patients. Some sat quietly as they passed, barely taking note of their existence. Others screamed incoherently banging at the glass fronts of their cells. That for Estell was an unpleasant thing to see and her heart went out to them all, knowing exactly what it was like to sit in a glass box and be starred at indiscriminately by passers by. She didn't want Tari and Val to be in here, there may not be nasty experiments but it was still the same prison environment. She would talk to Mr Wayne and plead with him to let them out.

Suddenly out of seemingly know where three men in white appeared in front of them all, startling her from her thoughts. They were grappling with a large inmate who was trying to struggle from their grasp, the man kicked out his foot connecting with the face of one of the orderlies knocking him to the ground unconscious, allowing him more freedom to punch and kick at the other two. Estell stood rigid watching the scene unfold before her.

"Oh god! not again, Terry how did patient 15 escape again!" Dr. Evans was clearly frustrated by what was happening rushing over to help restrain the patient. "Jim could you give us a hand here?"

Jim Gordon and the other two officers ran over to help restrain the violent thrashing man, while Dr. Evans pulled out a syringe from her lab coat, filling it with a clear fluid. Estell ignored the grunts of protest and angry screams coming from the patients mouth and the combined efforts of the 5 men trying to restrain him. Her mind was totally focused on the glinting needle in Dr. Evans hand, something in her mind snapped at the sight of it, so many nightmarish memories running through her brain as blind panic hit her and she bolted in the opposite direction of that needle, not caring where her legs were carrying her not listening to the shouting jeers of inmates she passed. She just kept running, paying no attention to where she was or what direction she was going in. She just wanted to be away from the doctor, away from the needle, she wanted to be with Tari and Val, she'd be safe with them.

Finally coming to her senses a bit after what seemed like hours of running, but in fact had only been a couple of minutes, Estell came to a halt, exhausted from bombing down endless winding corridors. She leant up against a wall to try to catch her breath, not really registering the fact that she was leaning up against the glass window of an inmate's cell.

Still breathing heavily she noted that this corridor was a lot darker and dingy than the ones earlier, it was eerily silent too and she became aware that she had no idea as to were the hell she was, or how to get back to Jim Gordon. The fear came back suddenly, feeling she was in a very vulnerable situation, with lots of people in white coats lurking around any corner. Not good.

"You seem neerrrvous, what's a peerritty little thing like yourself getting lost in a naaasty place like this hmmm?"

Estell spun round with a start at the strange voice behind her. There in the shadows of his cell sat, well a very peculiar looking man in her opinion, his head hung slightly to the left in an inquisitive fashion, dark green-blond curls were hanging messily across his eyes but she could see a large devious smirk forming on his lips, something else about that smile was strange but she couldn't put her finger on it, the dank light of his cell made it quite hard to see his face properly, she shrugged it off as shadows. It was his eccentric attire that seemed peculiar to her, mostly purple, wait a minute PURPLE, something triggered in her mind and that strange sensation she'd been feeling from people seemed to suddenly resonate out of him. Why?, what was so special about this man? Fears put aside, she became very curious all of a sudden, pressing her hands up against the glass and peering at him closely. His eyebrow rose slightly and she realised she'd been gauping at him and uttering the word purple absent mindedly. She shifted again feeling embarrassed for the second time today. She cleared her throat, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"Why is everyone thinking about you?"

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Really hoped you liked my first chapter, again sorry that it focused mainly on building on new characters I've created for this story, just felt it was necessary to do that to form a basis. Please feel free to leave comments...Purple Twist :-)


	2. Confused Conversations

Hey to everyone reading this, lots of the Joker in this chapter.

Chapter 2: Confused conversations

Joker stared at her in astonishment for a second, a little taken back by her rather strangely put question having expected her to scream, cry, faint, or run at the sight of him, then he erupted into a fit of laughter due to the absurdity of her statement. Didn't she know who he was, how the hell could she not??

Estell backed away a little from the glass as his mad giggling exploded around her. She furrowed her brow, what was so hilarious about her question? Her confused face only seemed to make the strange man laugh harder, making his cackling echo loudly down the corridors. She became conscious that it might attract some unwanted attention and tentatively tapped the glass to try to make him stop.

"Hey Mr......please stop laughing so loudly.....HEY! Please... please be quiet!" she now banged on the glass desperately, she didn't want to be found alone in this corridor. Where was Mr Gordon?

Joker was currently rocking on his bed, with his knees hugged to his chest and head hung back, whooping like a maniac. At the sound of her little pleads for him to quit, he sobered his laughter to giggles and landed his feet heavily to the ground, bringing his head forward to look at her curiously. He'd noticed the strained, urgent tone in her pleading, and began to wonder why his loud laughter was bothering her so much. Maybe she was a patient who'd wondered off, it would explain her lack of fear and the bizarre question if she was crazy. He inhaled heavily to catch his breath after laughing so hard, and focused all his attention on the strange little girl in front of him, who now looked very relieved that he'd stopped making so much noise. She was an odd looking thing; long silvery-white hair that was almost luminescent with the dark backdrop of the hallway behind her, big emerald green eyes full of naivety, ghostly pale skin to match her hair, and she was tiny, only barley 4ft, maybe 4ft 1. A very pretty little thing who seemed very out of place in the harsh environment of Arkham. He leaned forward into the light more, clasping his hands together beneath his chin whilst clearing his throat.

"Did my ah laughter botherrr you? Its just that your que-westion tickled me jus-ta tiny bit.....ya see I was expecting you to scareeama."

Estell blinked at that, both distracted by his weird way of talking and now understanding why his smile had seemed so odd to her earlier on; his face no longer hidden by shadows, she could see that his smile didn't seem to end, due to two jagged puffy scars running up either side of his cheeks. The only thing that ran through her mind at seeing them was, how? She shook herself out of it knowing more than a few seconds had gone by since he'd spoke and that it must have been quite obvious to him that she was again gauping at him rudely, not that he seemed to mind, she guessed he got it a lot.

"Ah?...." she swallowed realising she was a little confused by what he'd said and a little annoyed that he'd completely ignored her first question, which he'd just found hilarious. "Ah, why would I scream at you? And you still haven't told me why you're on everyone's mind, I want to know, why are you so special?"

Again Joker was lost for words, she must be a patient, he began to giggle again at the idea of him being on everyone's mind, the way she phrased it made it seem like people were pining for him, now that was funny.

Estell's eyes widened in alarm as he began to giggle again, "No no no, stop it, stop laughing, you'll make them come, what is so funny, I don't understand? You, people, everyone, you're all just so....complicated, I don't want to be here any more." She slumped to the floor pouting fed up with being laughed at, and being scared.

The joker, continuing to chuckle to himself about the idea of being special, strolled over to the glass window of his cell and crouched down so he was somewhat level with her. She was becoming a great source of amusement for him now and he didn't particularly want her to wonder off just yet, you never know, she could somehow become useful.

"Aww come on now, stop the pouting, I wasn't laughing at you," he put on the best sincere voice he could muster and pulled a fake "comforting" smile at her. "Besiiides, if we're go-ing to get picky about who's answerrred who, I believe I asked the firsss-t question hmm, which you..ah completely ignore-d."

Estell sighed still pouting and stared at her hands a bit fed up, "I just want to know why the majority of the people I come into contact with keep thinking about the colour purple, and I know its because of you because well you're wearing purple aren't you and the feelings, they resonate out of you. Why? What did you do to make that happen, I'm beginning to think not nice things, because you're in here and when I get it from Mr Wayne, he always feels really angry and upset.....maybe I'll just ask him I don't think you're going to tell me."

Estell went to stand up, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk to this man any more, she should probably go find Mr Gordon, then she could go speak to Tari, finally. "I'm going to go now, I'm meant to be visiting my brother and sister, Mr Gordon is probably really mad at me for running off, its just that I really don't like doctors and needles."

The Joker stood up, very very confused by the girls ramblings, what the hell was she going on about flashes of purple from people, that made no sense. And what was she doing with Bruce Wayne and Gordon??? She had to be mad, but then why would she be visiting people? He was too curious about her now and he wanted answers or it would nag at his mind. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do to distract him from thinking about it, he was locked away in here.

"Wait! I'll answerrrr you're questions, I'm just curiousss........ why have you had the pleasurrrre of being in the presence of both the Com-missioner and Bruuce Way-naa?"

Estell hesitated and turned round to face him, a feeling now in her gut that she shouldn't talk to him and should instead continue to walk in the opposite direction. Something in his mental demeanour had changed now that he had taken a keen interest in her, and all sorts of warning signs were flagging up in her own mind due to the dangerous aura that now surrounded him. But yet she stayed, there was something else, something else beneath all that danger that was starting to draw on her. She placed a hand gently on the glass, maybe she could take a peek inside his mind, yes that's what she could do, she kicked herself mentally for not thinking it before, she could have saved so much time.

Closing her eyes, she relaxed her mind clearing it of all thoughts and blocking out everything that was going on around her, slowly building up the courage to let her mind spiral out and touch his.

Meanwhile Joker stood in front of her, eyebrow cocked and a little perturbed by the fact that she was now completely ignoring him, totally unaware that she was attempting to read his mind. It was now his turn to tap the glass, quite agitated. He'd never come across anyone who had dared to ignore him, he was the clown prince of crime, the lord of chaos.

"Ah, hello anybody in there?" no answer. He growled under his breath in anger, about to shout at her and bang on the glass louder really not liking being ignored, when he heard the sound of rushing footsteps down the corridor and the "joyous" sound of Commissioner Gordon's voice. Oh goody.

"Estell, ESTELL! Are you alright?"

Joker pursed his lips and exhaled, rolling his eyes exasperated by the new turn of events, and slumped back down on his bed, chin resting in his hands. Guess his little muse was about to be whisked away, not that he was getting any sense out of her any more. She still stood leant up against the window of his cell with her eyes closed, although weirdly she was beginning to whimper now. The kid had to be mentally challenged, not that he could judge.

Gordon rushed over to Estell incredibly happy he'd found her, though his smile instantly dropped from his face when he caught a glimpse of the Joker grinning from ear to ear at him, behind the glass. His heart sank, of all the places she could have run to, why here? Why to him?. He touched Estell's shoulder, noticing that she hadn't moved or spoken since he'd arrived, and hearing her whimpering.

"Hellooo Com-missionerrr, always a pleasurrre to see you."

Gordon ignored the drawl of Joker's taunting voice, concerned for Estell's current state; her breathing was getting heavier and erratic, and her whimpers were getting louder.

"Joker what did you do to her?" Jim asked him gruffly.

"Meeee?" Joker replied incredulously, "How could I possibly do anything to herrr, while locked away in heerre?, now Gordon you should no betterrr than tha-t. She did it alll by herself."

Jim was about to make a scaving retort back at the Joker, knowing there were a number of things the man could have said to her to send her into shock, when Estell began to shake violently. He gripped her shoulders tightly.

"Estell, its ok, come on now, he can't hurt you, calm down, its alright."

Joker began to snigger at Gordon's attempt to relax the girl with no avail. Hmmm Estell, that's a pretty name, he was about to voice this opinion to Gordon and hopefully get a rise out of the man when a shrill ear piercing scream left Estell's lips, causing both men to cower over in pain, covering their ears in a vain attempt to block it out.

Estell buckled over as well letting out another distressed scream, this one far louder and of a higher pitch than the last. The glass between her, Jim and the Joker began to vibrate violently before shattering into a thousand tiny pieces, scattering around them. At that point the scream came to its climax and ended, Estell slumping to the floor unconscious.

Jim Gordon and the Joker carefully took their hands away from their ears, both still hunched over. Jim looked stunned at the broken glass around them and then to Estell's unconscious form on the floor. He hadn't really registered that Dr. Evans and his officers were now standing beside him, his officers were currently aiming their guns directly at the Joker's head, now that he wasn't exactly contained in his cell. Jim just stared down at Estell wondering what in god's name just happened.

The Joker also having similar thoughts, groaned as he got to his feet, absent-mindedly brushing off shards of glass from his clothing. It still hadn't really occurred to him that there was no longer a wall of glass separating himself from the open hallway.

"Don't move Joker and put your hands on your head!"

He raised an eyebrow, lifting his head in the direction of the gruff but very unsteady voice barking orders at him and smirked, finally realising the situation, even though there were two guns pointing directly at his head. He took a step forward but stopped when the officer clicked the safety off his gun.

"Its ok officer." Dr. Evans moved in front of both men, "The patient is unarmed so there is no need for your guns, I've called for some orderlies to come and escort him to the recreation room, while we assign him a new room."

The officers looked reluctant to do so, glancing down at commissioner Gordon, who was gathering Estell into his arms. "Sir?"

Gordon eyed the Joker who was standing casually, expecting his nails as though nothing in particular was happening, he also saw the smug smile on his face. Sighing and shaking his head slightly he stood up with Estell in tow, seeing the orderlies running down the corridor, one carrying a straight jacket.

"Its ok officer Grady, you can lower your guns."

Dr Evans smiled satisfied and approached the Joker cautiously, now with three orderlies to back her up.

"Now then Mr Joker, seeing as your room is no longer secure, you are to go with these men to the recreation room and you are to be on your best behaviour is that understood, or do I have to give you a little booster shot to make you behave?"

The orderlies got in closer, getting ready with the straight jacket. Joker's smile had now dropped, hating how she spoke to him like he was three, a number of unpleasant things ran through his mind, all involving her. She had already got the needle out expectantly.

"So are you going to be a good boy and willingly get in the straight jacket, or must I use this?" she waved the needle in his face.

He gritted his teeth remembering his first two weeks of constantly being pumped with that stuff, having to just sit and drool like a vegetable, while everything around him raced by. He didn't want to go back to that, there was no possible way he'd get out of here If he couldn't think straight. Reluctantly he held his arms out for the orderlies, glaring right through them at the opposite wall. He noticed Jim Gordon's shocked expression at the fact that he was complying, then stared at the still unconscious Estell in his arms. Jim saw that and gave him a don't even think about it stare and held her tighter. He smiled what was so important about her? He was a little disappointed that he couldn't continue to converse with the odd little girl, he wanted to get to the bottom of her. His thoughts were interrupted by the smug annoying voice of Dr. Evans.

"Good boy, I'm sure it will be nice for you to stretch your legs anyway. We will however be having a little chat about what went on here, don't think you have gotten away scott free Mr Joker."

He cringed at her stupid patronising voice, now completely strapped up and about to be dragged away from the scene. Oh he was looking forward to their little chat, this woman was going to learn why most of the other psychiatrists had cancelled their sessions with him, what was the number he'd gotten up to now 8 or was it 9? He didn't really care, they all thought the same thing, that they could "cure" him and become famous in the process. He chuckled a couple of them had ended up in the Asylum with him. As he was being led down the hall he took one last look at Estell, wondering when he'd encounter her again, if she was a patient most likely soon, but he was beginning to think she wasn't, even though it seemed to him that she probably should be. He'd definitely look her up, when he finally figured away to get out of this place.

Now humming to himself, he wondered if Johnny would be in the recreation room.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I was going to jump straight in with introducing the twins but then thought it would be too rushed and wanted to start to build a relationship between the Joker and Estell. I'll see how the next chapter goes with that. Please review. Thanks PurpleTwist


	3. A Girl Broke My Window

Disclaimer: please look at the first chapter to find the disclaimer.

:-) I'm very sorry that there has been such a long gap between chapter 2 and chapter 3;

I've been extremely busy, but I should be able to get them out more often now.

There are two new character introductions, from the Batman Universe so not ones that I've created, but I won't spoil who they are, you'll have to read to find out ;-p. Hope you enjoy this chapter and again sorry it took so long to be written.

Chapter 3 – A Girl Broke My Window

Jim Gordon held Estell tightly in his arms, hurrying back the way they'd came, to reach their previously intended destination, which had been Dr. Arkham's office before this whole fiasco had happened. She was still unconscious but as far as he could tell she was no longer in distress, but he wanted to get her to a secluded part of Arkham away from the patients, so that when she did wake up there would be nothing else to alarm her...hopefully, and Dr. Arkham's office sounded like the best place.

He was furious with himself for being so careless; he new she was already quite edgy and he should have thought to make sure she was ok when it had all kicked off. Now the poor girl had been sent into shock, having encountered the Joker all on her own. He knew he couldn't have physically harmed her but he also knew, from reading Estell's files, that she was highly psychic; the Joker had a knack for getting into peoples' heads and screwing them up, he shuddered to think what it would be like for someone with sensitive telepathic abilities. Estell could have easily gotten inside HIS head and......god he dreaded to think of all the horrid things going on in that man's mind.

He got the impression that Dr. Evans saw it quite differently, she had already voiced the opinion that Estell's condition had most likely been brought on by a telepathic episode, and had sounded quite excited if that was the case. He guessed for a psychiatrist that the possibility of getting direct access into the Joker's mind, or any difficult patient, would be a real break through. Either way her mood had definitely perked up since their arrival because she was no longer scowling, however she had still been storming ahead of them, not really taking any interest in whether Estell was ok. He wondered how it was possible for her to spend the majority of her time apparently helping people overcome serious mental illnesses, when so far she had came across as just cold and abrupt. Surely her job required some compassion?

They had finally arrived at Dr. Arkham's office, which was crammed full with several other doctors, they'd heard what had happened and wanted to know more details. Jim frowned a little at this, he was sure that it wouldn't help Estell to wake up surrounded by people she had a phobia of. He saw that there was a medical bed set up in the corner of the room, which he guessed had been put there for Estell upon her arrival. He placed her on it carefully as Dr. Arkham came over to inspect her, he checked all her vitals, which appeared to be perfectly normal.

"Well she seems fine, but we'll have to wait and see once she wakes up, it appears that the poor girl just fainted out of shock, I think that perhaps its best she's taken home, and we'll arrange another day for her to come in."

There was a grumbled murmur amongst the other doctors. A young blonde woman, around her early twenties, stepped forward. Jim noted she had a kinder disposition than Dr. Evans.

"Sir I'd like to stop you there if I may? I know this girl has been put through quite a lot today, but I really do feel its necessary that we carry on as planned, I don't think we can have any further delays with the twins' progress, I mean we've pretty much lost Val, but perhaps there is some hope for Tari. Lately she's been more responsive to my questioning and I've already told her she's going to be visited by her younger sister today. I get the impression that I'll loose trust in her if she doesn't and then we'll be back to square one. It might even do Estell some good, after today's events, to be able to see Tari."

Having blurted all that out, without taking so much as a breath in between sentences, and now struggling to catch it back, the young doctor stood nervously biting her lip waiting for his response; she was new here and even though she was incredibly flattered to be given such a prestigious case, she wasn't sure if she had just spoken completely out of line and she could tell that the rest of the doctors were now smirking not so kindly at her, hoping she was about to get her head bitten off. They were all very jealous that she had been given Tari and Val as patients. She caught Dr. Evans smiling cruelly at her, that women had given her nothing but trouble ever since she started, having been here a long time Dr. Evans had been hoping to be given the twins herself and was very angry when she didn't. All that woman seemed to strive for was fame, you'd think she'd lay off her a bit now that she'd been given the Joker case, but obviously not.

After what seemed like an eternity to her Dr. Arkham finally spoke after regarding what she had said. "Well Dr. Quinzel, I can see where you are coming from, but we shouldn't forget the mental states of our visitors, as psychiatrists its our job to look out for the welfare of all people, not just the ones in our care." The other doctors began to snigger and he saw her blush a bit at his statement. He sighed inwardly at their childish behaviour and decided to cut her some slack, she had so far proven herself to be an excellent psychiatrist. Clearing his throat to make the others shut up he continued.

"However, considering that both the twins were un-responsive when they first arrived at the asylum, it is quite remarkable that you've come this far with Tari, so I do trust your judgement on the matter and I am willing to let today's schedule continue, ON the condition that Estell is ok to do so, if I feel that she isn't then I'm afraid we will have to re-schedule."

Dr. Quinzel was a little surprised by this sudden praise, thinking that he was going to continue by telling her off for interrupting him, and beamed at the possibility of continuing with her sessions as planned. She didn't want to put Estell through any un-needed stress either, but she believed she'd reached a crucial point in her discussions with Tari, and she couldn't really go any further now without Estell's involvement. Hopefully she'd be ok to continue.

"Thank you Dr. Arkham, I really appreciate your support." her smile grew bigger, even though Dr. Evans was now glaring daggers at her.

"Maybe it would be a good idea to talk to the Commissioner about what you actually want to gain out of Estell's involvement today, he looks a little concerned, you can use my office, everyone else, I believe there are patients to be seen, they won't cure themselves."

Everyone began to file out, a little disappointed that they didn't get to find out any juicy information. Dr. Evans hesitated at the door, glancing at Estell's peaceful form, Dr. Arkham looked at her impatiently.

"Is there something important Dr. Evans? If not the girl really needs some rest and Dr. Quinzel and the Commissioner have some confidential matters to discuss."

"Well actually sir there is something that I believe requires some urgent attention, regarding the Joker case, I believe this girl's shock was brought on......."

"Yes yes, I know what you're getting at, that her shock was brought on by creating a telepathic link with the Joker, which I doubt he had any knowledge of. Dr. Evans we have no expertise in this field, and I know that there have been rumours going round, ever since the twins' arrival, that it would be a good idea to use mind reading on some of the more complicated patients, namely the Joker. Well I can tell you now that I don't approve of such things seeing as we know absolutely nothing about it and that the only two people with the ability to do so are patients. Its dangerous and frankly I feel its unethical."

"But sir, this girl, we could use her, she's already apparently read the Joker's mind."

"Yes and look where that has got her, for all we know there could be some serious mental repercussions, I can't allow it, I'm sorry."

Dr. Evans was now beyond exasperated by his objections. "You could at the least allow me to interview the girl and find out what she saw, it could be useful for my work?!"

Jim didn't like the sound of that, Estell was here for a simple visit nothing more. "I'd like to interject here if I may?" He looked at Dr. Arkham for approval who nodded silently for him to carry on, "I don't think its fair on Estell to probe her over what happened, she's already unhappy about being here and doesn't particularly like any kind of doctor. The treatment and abuse she received at the military labs would lead me to think that she wouldn't want to be involved and I don't like the idea of making her feel pressured into talking about it."

Dr. Evans rolled her eyes in annoyance, she couldn't believe the ignorance of these people, but saw no point in pursuing it further, maybe after her first session with the Joker, she'd bring it up again, but for now she was getting nowhere. "Fine, It's disappointing that neither of you see the opportunity we've been given here, but if the answer is no I'll be on my way." she turned curtly aiming one more scowl at Dr. Quinzel and stormed out of the room.

Dr. Arkham shook his head at her behaviour and stood up from his chair, ready to leave the room,

"I'll leave you two alone to talk," he began to leave the room and with an after thought turned to Dr. Quinzel, "Harleen, try not to let Dr. Evans' behaviour towards you get to you, over the years I've discovered she's a very competitive person, sometimes I feel she's in this job for all the wrong reasons, that's why I didn't give her the twins, she doesn't care enough. You however show a gentler demeanour towards your patients and I believe that's why you get good results. Just remember its not wise to get too attached and involved in them."

"Don't worry Dr. Arkham I won't I just want to help them, they've been through a lot, and they need to be given a chance, that's all I want to help them achieve."

Dr. Arkham smiled, he knew she had a kind spirit and an urge to actually listen and cure people, most of the other doctors here had lost that, years spent in this place surrounded by the criminally insane can tear away at person's soul. It wasn't easy to keep up the urge to want to actually help these people. He just hoped that he hadn't made a mistake in choosing her to treat the twins, their history alone was enough to damper a person's spirit.

"Well let me know how it goes, in fact if she's ok to go ahead, I'd like to observe her interaction with Tari."

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The Joker was now seated in a very large comfortable armchair still strapped up in the straight jacket, but he didn't mind too much, it beat being stuck alone in a cramped cold cell. Now he had the pleasure of watching Jonathan Crane, who had thus far ignored him, being hassled by another patient while he tried in vein to read a book. The dishevelled looking old woman was trying to climb onto his lap, she had a child's book in her hand and from the crooning noises she was making towards Crane, the Joker could make out that she wanted him to read it to her. He sniggered as Crane, now quite agitated, struggled to pry the old woman off of him since she had practically jumped on him. This frantic writhing continued, with Crane now cursing under his breath and the old woman squealing in joy like a child on a ride, until the weight of them both thrashing about made the chair fall backwards, taking them both with it. All that could be heard now was Crane's muffled anger and the old lady's happy giggling.

Obviously Joker burst into hysterics as this happened, while a female orderly who had meanwhile been pre-occupied with looking out a window, rushed over to both of them, helping the old lady off of Crane and guiding her quickly away, but not before giving him a warning glance that said calm down and stop swearing or else. Crane got to his feet incredibly irate and mumbled under his breath that if she'd been doing her bloody job correctly none of that would have happened. He turned towards Joker, peeved that the insane clown was laughing at him, and stormed over to where he sat, whooping in his chair.

"Oh yes laugh it up, that's right....everything for you is so bloody funny, what are you even doing in here anyway, aren't you too dangerous to be around other patients?" he glared down angrily at the Joker, a little embarrassed at what he'd just witnessed. He truly hated being in this place.

The Joker stared up at Crane, mirth in his eyes, "Awww, you seeeem a little agitated to see me Johnny," Joker put on a mock hurt face. "Aren't you-ah happy to have someone otherrrrr than the standard vegetablesss to talk to?"

"Like you're any better," Crane scoffed, "Besides I don't think the idiots who are meant to "watch" over us, like the idea of us talking."

Joker looked over at a group of orderlies, all staring in their direction and grinned at them, happy to cause a fuss.

"Isn't that more of a reeeaso-na to have a little chat, make them all nerrrrvous cause they'll think we're p-lotting something." He winked at the female orderly, who's eyes immediately became wide with fear and turned back to stare out the window, trying to ignore the fact that he was in the room. Joker pouted at this.

Crane rolled his eyes at how easily the Joker found his muse, but was secretly glad he had someone who didn't drool in his company, not that he'd let the Joker know this. He noticed the female orderly's change in behaviour, she really wasn't comfortable with the Joker being in this room, in fact none of them seemed happy about, even if he was in a straight jacket.

"Really why have they let you in here? It can't be on good behaviour I've overheard you've been giving your psychiatrists a hard time, not that that surprises me."

The Joker was still staring at the female orderly, who was in turn still trying to ignore him but he could tell she was a little perturbed by him looking at her, she kept shifting on her stool. He smirked at how easy it was to mess with the people in here. He became aware that Crane was staring down at him impatiently, remembering he'd been talking.

"Oh... a girrl broke my window."

Crane blinked at him, "What?! Don't be absurd!"

Joker sighed bored now that he couldn't get a proper rise out of her, and shifted in his seat so that he was facing Crane properly, which was some task when his arms were strapped up.

"I'm no-t, a small girl came to my cell and broke my win-dow, she was sta-rangge, didn't make any sense."

Crane's frown deepened "Much like yourself right now, are you honestly telling me that a girl just happened to be wondering around the asylum smashing up cell windows with a bat!?"

"Yes.....well it was just mi-ne and there was no ba-t, mumble something about visiting her brother and sisteerrr, AND she had no caa-luue who I wasss."

Crane rubbed his forehead in exasperation it was like playing 20 questions with the Joker sometimes, and to top it all off, you could never make heads or tails of what he was going on about. Sighing, he was about to give up and go back to reading his book, thinking the Joker was just playing games with him, when he picked up on something the Joker had just said.

"Wait, did you just say she was here to visit her brother and sister, they weren't twins by any chance?"

The Joker shrugged, "No, but why would tha-t matter?, she rambled a lot, before I got anything worth while out of her our feeeriend the Commissionerrr turned up and she started to go ca-raazy... then the window exploded, and here I am."

Crane's interest again perked up on hearing that she had been here with Commissioner Gordon. Lately he had been picking up tid-bits of information from former colleagues at the Asylum, boasting about how they had received two new patients, recently used as lab rats for the military. He'd also picked up that it was Bruce Wayne who had requested for them to be put into Arkham, not that he cared about that multi-millionaire pretty boy, the fact that he had, had caused a stir in everyone. And he also wondered why Gotham's richest man was getting involved in ex-military research schemes, it didn't really add up in his mind. Either way he'd been hearing some very interesting stories about a few of the sessions held with these now notorious twins, and if they had siblings outside of Arkham, well that just made it juicier. His alterer personality had certainly reared his ugly head and taken a keen interest, pushing him to find out as much as possible about them.

"Hellowaa? Ya seem to have gone into lala lan-d?" It was Joker's turn to become curious now that Crane appeared to have knowledge about his new found interest. "Wanna sharrre?"

Crane didn't see any harm in telling him what he knew, perhaps the crazed clown could help him find out more if his interest in it peaked. "I've heard some very interesting things about two patients recently sectioned, which from the sounds of it are related to this girl you were going on about."

The Joker leant forward eager to find out more about Estell's background. "Go o-na!"

Crane smirked at the fact that the Joker was actually intrigued by something other than blowing things up. "Well they may not be related, but either way these new patients have caused quite a commotion in the Asylum. They were sectioned by Bruce Wayne," Joker's interest increased at this, remembering Estell had mentioned him, "for being deemed to violent for society or at least displaying the potential to be. From what I've been told they were groomed by the military to be some sort of weapon, and Gotham's government officials, in there wisdom, see them as too dangerous to be let loose so they've been dumped in here."

The Joker was now very keen to find out more but was interrupted by two large orderlies, who pushed Jonathan Crane aside, so that they could grab him from either side and lift him to his feet. He noticed that the obnoxious harpy he'd encountered earlier was standing in the doorway, obviously it was time to be introduced to his new 'home'. The orderlies dragged him over to her, were he was met with that sickening self satisfied smile that was constantly plastered on her face. He looked forward to carving it into a more appealing, bloody grin. His happy thoughts were soon interrupted by her piercing shrill voice, making him wince mentally.

"Well Joker, unfortunately for you its time to go back to a new cell, but not before you and I have a little chat about what happened earlier with that young girl."

Joker smiled inwardly at this, he was looking forward to having a 'little chat' with this particular doctor, especially if the topic was his potential new plaything. Plus it had been awhile since they'd sent someone to 'cure' him after what happened to the last psychiatrist. He chuckled at the memory.

"Is something I said particularly amusing to you Joker." Dr. Evans glowered at him with angrily pursed lips. Joker grinned openly at her now, she was going to be so easy to play with, his dark eyes glinted at her with sadistic thoughts and he saw her shiver a little, though to most people it wouldn't have been noticeable. She obviously didn't like appearing vulnerable, which would make it all the more entertaining. His tongue snaked out to lick his lips before he replied in playful tone.

"I'm just looking forward to having a few worrrrdss with you Dr. its been awhile since I had a chance to cha-t, I've been feeling a little lonely." he pouted at this in mock hurt, insinuating he'd felt neglected.

Dr. Evans stiffened a bit at his response, not liking the way his eyes stared at her with all the hidden danger and malice he harboured that his words didn't suggest. Swallowing hard and deepening her scowl she swivelled on her feet, posture tense, and began to march in the direction of her office, with not so much as word to the orderlies to bring him in tow. She was not going to let this patient get the best of her, unlike some of her previous colleagues, oh know, he wasn't going to play mind games with her. An after thought struck her and without turning she called back to the orderlies, dragging the Joker after her,

"Before bringing the patient to my office, have his make-up removed and get him into some Asylum issued clothing, I believe after today he will have to earn his right to continue to wear what he wants."

She knew he wouldn't have liked that, and she smiled in satisfaction at this thought, believing she already had one up on him because of it. There sessions were going to be through her rules not his.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review and let me know what you think. Thanks, PurpleTwister ;-)


	4. Chapter 4

Hey :-) this chapter took me ages to write for some reason and there is originally some sexually explicit content in this chapter, which if you want to read that version you can find it in adultfanfiction, but its been taken out for and only hinted at in this version. Its not an integral part of the chapter so you can happily read it here without missing out on anything important for the plot.

Hope you like it.

Chapter 4 – I Just want to make you Smile

Evans sat behind her desk, nonchalantly flipping through the Joker's charts. She wasn't really reading them, having rigorously studied all files on him way before she was even given his case. She just liked to pretend to be reading through a patient's notes so that they were made to wait, it was her way of making it known, right from the start, that sessions would be on her terms, and start when she wanted them to. Plus the Joker was probably disgruntled that he was still strapped up and now forced to wear the standard grey, itchy shirt and trousers that were assigned to every patient at the asylum. And oh yes, he was no longer wearing any of his face paint. So she was rather enjoying the idea that he had to sit there most likely stewing in frustration and anger at these things, it gave her a sense of power and she liked that.

She peered over at him, continuing to absent mindedly flip through the pages in her hand, so as not to let on that she was looking at him. His expression was actually quite calm, she'd been expecting him to be furious, if he was he was hiding it well, which was a little disappointing for her. He was just staring into space, occasionally pushing at the inside of his cheek with his tongue. That was annoying. Without realising it she had stopped fiddling with his files and was now out rightly looking at him, a little surprised by how different he looked without the face paint. She could even consider him to be handsome, however the scars stopped that trail of thought along with the fact that he was a violent killer, those things were a massive turn off for her.....seemed a shame really, he did have nice eyes when they weren't surrounded by messy black rings.

Suddenly those eyes met with hers and she realised he was very much aware that she had been staring at him, which was expressed by the amusement that filled his eyes and the big smirk plastered on his lips......dammit! She cleared her throat in annoyance that she'd been caught out and was also a little embarrassed that it had been when she was admiring his features. Sighing in her mind she pushed all these stupid thoughts out of her head and became resigned to the idea that she should start this session. She adjusted her glasses and put on the coldest expression she could muster.

"I see you've been made more 'comfortable' for our first session, how do you like your new attire Joker?"

She saw his eyes darken slightly and the smirk quickly melted away. She had expected a witty retort to this but she was met with silence. It seemed his new clothing and lack of make-up had struck more of nerve than he had been letting on. It was her turn to smirk.

"I would assume from your silence that you are unhappy by the loss of your own clothes and face paint. Well let me lay down the rules for our sessions," her tone became very condescending, "Unlike some of my other colleagues I don't respond well to threats or mind games. If I get results from you co-operating to my questioning there may be a chance you will be rewarded for this good behaviour. Its all down to you at the end of the day Joker. Do we have an understanding?"

Again she was met with silence, he wasn't even looking at her any more. In fact he had positioned himself so that he was facing slightly away from her and he appeared to be more interested in the pictures on the wall rather than what she had just said. She narrowed her eyes not liking that he hadn't responded.

"Joker! I expect an answer when I speak to you."

He continued to ignore her and made it seem like he wasn't even listening by closing his eyes.

"JOKER!"

Slowly opening one eye at a time, he let his head lull to one side so that he was looking at her through a tangle of matted green-blonde hair, and regarded her for a second before clicking his tongue.

"I didn't think shouting at your patient was good prac-tice doctor....might make them a bit edgy." his voice went low as he said the last part, continuing to look at her from a lopsided angle. He stroked the inside of his left scar with his tongue, which then darted out to lick his lips before he continued.

"You think you'rrra the first to play this little game of taking away my make-up." he began to snicker, "You're no differrrent than the otherrrrss."

Dr. Evans gritted her teeth but kept her deadpan expression whilst replying curtly "This is not a game Joker, after what happened today you don't deserve to be given privileges, and if you continue to be this obstinate in the session I'll be forced to take further action. However like I said before if you...."

"Behave like a good little patient you'll throw ta-reats my way," Joker sneered at her "think I don't know the routine now darrl."

He began to howl with laughter when he saw Evans struggling to keep her cool, but he could see right through her rigid scowling mannerisms, bless her she was just trying too hard not to care and it was hilarious. He'd barely begun to play with her and already her eye had began to twitch. Ooh it was just getting ridiculously easy to mess with these people, when would he have someone who'd give him a bit more of a challenge. His thoughts were cut short, along with his loud mocking cackles, by the sound of Dr Evans angrily slamming her clipboard onto the desk followed by her jumping up from her seat, so that she could storm over to where he was sitting.

She grabbed his chair, spinning it round to make him face her properly. He grinned up at her innocently as she brought her face down close to his.

"Listen you mad bastard! I will not be made a fool of do you hear me!? I am nothing like the others, nothing," Joker noted the venom behind those words and was pleased to know he'd struck a nerve, "You are going to co-operate with me so that I can get the prestige I'm owed and then get the fuck out of this god-awful hell hole, got it!"

Joker gave a mock pout and shook his head as though he'd come to realise something awful. "Its such a terr-rible shame that you didn't land those twins then isn't it, ya see you can't fix-a what isn't considered brrr-oken."

Dr. Evans was about to pull out her hair and scream. To be honest she didn't care if he got cured, she was at her last tether with this place, none of them deserved any help, and she doubted if the Joker could even be helped. At the end of the day all she needed from him was something that looked impressive down on paper. Maybe if she just reasoned that with him? No wait that would be mad surely, wouldn't it? She bit her lip mulling over the idea of just coming clean to this nut-case with her intentions. She had kind of spilled the beans in that rant already hadn't she? Oh what the hell.

"Look....it would appear from your background that standard psychiatry just doesn't work, and to be honest with you I'm not interested in going down the same arduous road the others went through and then end up with no results, after that stressful process. I need results, whether its through dealing with your obviously screwed up mind or not, and I don't get the feeling you're interested in therapy either......you understanding me?!" The Joker again made no attempt to let on that he'd heard her and instead sat idly twiddling his thumbs, but she knew he was listening, his huge smile let her know that he was.

A growl escaped her throat and she leant heavily against the wall not bothered that she was letting on how agitated she actually was by him any more. Although it wasn't just him, it was this place, this whole situation that was her life and she was bored of it all. She looked over at him, what the hell did he want from her, did he really need her to spell it out for him. Her scowl deepened when it occurred to her that he probably did know exactly what she meant but was just playing dumb and waiting, so that she was forced to say it straight out and make a deal with him, this silence was all for his own amusement. She huffed at that. He knew she would be putting herself on dangerous ground if she started to open up the concept of deals with him. She started to get uncomfortable with the idea and this session needed to go somewhere, whether it was down that path or not. Perhaps changing the subject would be best for now, she wasn't in the mood to fall into that trap with him yet.

"How do you know about the twins Joker? Their cases are meant to be classified" to her relief she saw a gleam of interest in his eyes. She was hoping he'd now tell her something she could get Harleen into trouble with.

"A little scarecrow told me." Dr. Evans rolled her eyes at this, of course he did. She knew the others had been bragging to Crane, idiots. Then a cheeky thought came to mind.

"So why do you think it would be better for my career if I'd got them instead of you? Did Crane tell you that they've taken away your thunder? You're probably right, I'd definitely have more of a chance of getting fame and fortune with them, now that nobody really cares about you any more, doubt you'd even get an afterthought nowadays."

Joker bristled at this comment, how dare this sorry excuse for a psychiatrist insinuate that his city, his playground and all his playthings within it, had forgotten him over some experiment that had gone wrong. They hadn't even set foot in Gotham. His eyes narrowed, she was trying to get one over him. He grinned, if she wanted to play that game she wasn't going to win.

"Well saadley for your career-ah, you did get dumped with me, after what? 6 or 7 otherrrs who came before you? I've lost count there's been so many. I don't get the impression Arkham stakes much faith in you. Don't you just get the feeling you were his last resorrr-t hmm?" he leant forward in the chair now enjoying the outraged look that was spreading across her face. "Maybe.....and this is jus-t a thought.....maybe its cause you seem to want to briiibe your patientsss." he sat back incredibly satisfied by the horrified and dumbfounded look on her face.

"I....I..wasn't suggesting anything of the sort.....I..."

" doctor, you shouldn't get a man's hopes up like that, especially when he's insaaner. Now here I was thinking you were going to offerrr me something for oh I don't know some sappy piece of information from my past, which could have led to my uh hm how did you so artfully describe it agai-na? Ah, that was it my obviously sca-rewed up min-d." his smirk was dangerous now, his eyes taunting her, daring her to step up and take the bate he'd just handed her. It was basically that or nothing now and he knew she couldn't stand for nothing.

Evans felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she wasn't sure why, wasn't this what she'd hinted at earlier? It was just now that he'd twisted it round and made it seem like it was in his terms, the idea seemed to have a more sinister element to it. But it could work to her advantage couldn't it? If she was careful she could get what she wanted out of it surely? She narrowed her eyes at him having weighed up all the options presented to her, and calmly walked back over to her desk where she seated herself on its edge. The Joker had been patiently waiting in silence for her to speak, knowing what the next words to cross her lips would be.

"Ok..... Joker... I'll give you what you want, if you'll give me what I want to hear. So what do you want?"

Joker grinned from ear to ear, those words would eventually lead to her downfall, but first he would play along with her, for amusement's sake. But it wouldn't be as simple as she had just laid it out.

"What do I want hm hm hm, where to star-t! I think what would be a good way to begin this...little arraaang-ment would be if you tell me what you want to know first?" Evans furrowed her brow at this; not quite sure of what he was getting at. The Joker caught on to this. "I can see you're confused, allow me to explai-na," he shifted in his seat beginning to loose feeling in his limbs where he couldn't move properly, getting out of this straight jacket would definitely be something he wanted. "You need to tell me what you want to know so I can weigh up the equivilan-te of what I want, AND, for every answer to a question I want to get something in return."

"That's not quite what I was suggesting Joker, every session you get rewarded once for answering all my questions, not for every question. That's too much, people would start to catch on. No sorry it can't work like that." she crossed her arms over her chest tightly and tried to regain some sense of sternness in her posture. She had to be in control of this, not him.

The Joker sucked on his bottom lip for a moment before smacking them together loudly and shook his head. "No no no, that's won't do at all...no, one 'rewarrd' gets you one answerrrr."

Dr. Evans growled in annoyance at how stubborn he was being but she wasn't giving up on this, there was no way he was dictating the rules on this matter, even if it meant he'd only respond once to her questioning each session. "Fine, if that's how you are going to be Joker, we'll do one question a session." she huffed as he burst into a fit of laughter at her. "Joker shut up we've wasted plenty of time today already and I'd like to move on." The Joker carried on cackling, he couldn't believe she was trying to maintain some element of control. He calmed himself down to a snicker.

"Fire away darrl, what do you want to know today?"

Evans sighed hoping somehow he would have agreed to what she wanted, but that looked very unlikely at the moment. So, it just meant she had to articulate her questions carefully. She sat back in her chair and looked over at him a little sulkily, he just grinned back at her obviously chuffed with himself, god she hated him. Having thought about it, she needed to report back to Arkham with some info, from the Joker's perspective, on what happened with Estell today. That was annoying because she wanted to get stuck into his history but that would apparently have to wait. She rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration and tried to get back into Dr. mode.

"Ok Joker, what I need to know today should be easy for you to answer, Arkham is waiting for me to report back with some information on today's events from your perspective, so we'll start with that. What happened between you and Estell, the girl we found at your cell, today? We want to know what triggered her faint, even though there are a few ideas floating around at the moment with regards to that, your input is still needed......oh and what do you want in return for this information?" She couldn't help but say the last part through gritted teeth.

The Joker glanced down at his bindings before answering, "I want out of this straight jacket for the rest of our sessions."

Evans' face still held its deadpan expression but underneath she was panicking at this request. It should have been apparent to her that he would want this, but it hadn't really crossed her mind that he might. She wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea of his straight jacket coming off, even if there were orderlies on call outside her office. Still they had made a deal and time was ticking on.

"Guar..."

"No! I want you to take it off."he watched with great amusement as her mind raced at the notion of having to do this. Her eyes darted to the door, then at him. Another smirk emerged on his face as she slowly got out of her chair and walked over to him. She warily leant over his shoulder to reach the first buckle but not before hissing in his ear,

"If you try anything once this thing is off I swear to god I'll scream to high heavens and those guards outside will be in here in a flash and then I'll have you drugged out of your crazed little mind for the rest of your stay here at Arkham."

She heard the Joker chuckle at her threat, not realising what he knew about the guards outside, and took his nod as an understanding and continued to unbuckle the straps. She was having to lean quite close to him now and she could feel his hot breath tickling her neck, as she reached the last one, and she shivered uncontrollably at the sensation. She bit her lower lip and mentally kicked herself for that, knowing he must have noticed and she stood back quickly once his arms were free to move.

The Joker instantly stood up towering over her slightly and stretched his arms out in front of him, shaking the straight jacket off. "Ahhh! That's much betterrr!" He gave her a grin expressing his satisfaction that he could move about more feely and took a step towards her. Evans instinctively stepped backwards, forgetting there wasn't much room in her office and bumped into her desk. The Joker continued to grin down at her and closed the gap, so that there was barely an inch between them. He placed both his hands either side of her body on the desk and leant into her face, their noses almost touching. He wanted to feel her shiver again.

"Jo..." Her voice caught in her throat as his hand moved and brushed her thigh, she tried to clear her mind and get control of herself as it began to slide up "J..Joker remember what I just said, I..I'll scream if you try anything." He cocked his head to the side so he could lean into her ear, watching the hairs on her neck stand on end as his breathing tickled her skin. And there it was, the shiver he had wanted; she wasn't really his type, but it had been so long since he'd enjoyed a woman and he was liking the reaction he was getting from her at the moment.

His hand went back to the desk, whispering in her ear, "Don't worry darrrl, I'm only messsing with you." and he pushed himself away from her, taking a step back and plonking himself down in the chair he was seated in before. With elbows on his knees, he leant forward in the chair, clasping his hands together so that he could rest his chin on them, and watched her as she tried to catch her breath. He smiled 'sweetly' at her while she gave him the biggest death glare she could muster, her chest was rising and falling quickly; she was both extremely flustered by his actions and incredibly angry at the same time.

"I am not amused by what you just did Joker!" she almost shouted those words, her cheeks were red with embarrassment. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"Aww calm down it was just a bit of fun-a! I promise to be a good boy from now on." The Joker pouted but she could see right through it and new he was still mocking her. She wanted to grab the nearest object and lob it at his head for humiliating her like that, but decided against it, she couldn't get results if she gave him a concussion. She stood up angrily and stomped round to her chair so that there was a desk between them and glared daggers his way.

"Well what are you waiting for, I've honoured your damn request to let you loose, now where's my answer." She pretty much spat those words at him.

The Joker sat back whistling in mock surprise at her behaviour, "Well someone can't take a joke can they," he saw her reach for the paper weight and he held his hands up as a sign that he would co-operate and watched with relief as she pulled her hand back. He gave her a wary look but settled back in his chair.

"Now don't take this the wrong wa-ya, but why don't you just ask the girrrl?"

Evans was beginning to get a headache, why couldn't he just give a straight answer to what she wanted to hear. She exhaled loudly. "Because...she's....passed....out....still!"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you but I don't know what happen-d," he saw her eye twitch, "Really, I don't, one minute we were having a nice little cha-t and BOOM, my window exploded, that's all I can say on the matterrr, by the way what is a young girl doing rrunning around an Assylumm?"

She wasn't convinced that it had happened as simply as he'd just explained "Is that really all you can say on the matter, you were talking and then the window exploded? What were you talking about before that happened?"

The Joker grinned from ear to ear knowing what he was about to say was going to infuriate her, "Well tech-nically that's anotherrr question, and you know where we stand with that."

To his surprise she simply took a deep breath and was silent for a moment, "What if you tell me what you were talking about and then I'll tell you why she was here, would that be a good enough trade for you?" She didn't really see any harm in telling him at this point.

The Joker tapped his chin considering her offer, he was curious to find out more about Estell, "Fine, although I doubt it will help you, She kept babbling on that I made flashes of purple or something like that, she wasn't making any sens-a."

Evans furrowed her brow, "Flashes of purple?"

The Joker shrugged, he'd lost interest long ago in what the girl had actually meant by that, just assuming she was as mad as everyone else in here. Although he did remember one thing she had said about it.

"Oh yerr, she was saying the flashes were in peoples' heads, if you ask me she's maa-d. So why's the kid here, I take it from the good ole co-mmissionerr being with her that she's no-t a patient?"

"No she's just here on a visit, but lots of people, myself included, think she should be. Crane has mentioned the twins to you hasn't he, well she's Tari and Val's younger sister and she was just as much a part of those experiments as they were. So she could be just as dangerous as they are. I think its mad that Bruce Wayne hasn't sectioned her and the other boy in here along with them."

The Joker raised his eyebrow at the prospect of there being four of them. "So why exactly do you think she's dangerrrous?"

Evans rolled her eyes for the upteenth time that day, "Isn't the fact that you think she's mad enough to make her dangerous?" the Joker shrugged and smirked at how ridiculous a statement that was to make to him. Evans caught on quickly, "Oh right of course, silly me!" she responded sarcastically.

"Well the fact that she's psychic makes her dangerous in my eyes, but also useful, you want to know what I think made her faint Joker?" she said this in quite a sly tone, which made him instantly curious, "Enlighten me!"

Dr. Evans was now the one wearing the big grin. "I think she fainted because she took a look inside your head." Her smile grew even bigger when she saw the Joker's eyes widen a little, he didn't seem to like the idea of that, but he quickly caught himself and smirked back deviously.

"Well if that's true why are you botherrring to talk to me? Wait till she wakes up and go ask her what she saw."

"Because I'm not allowed." she barely made that audible, quite embarrassed to admit that to him.

"Sooorrrrry? Didn't quite hear that, maybe I should come over therrre?"

It was Dr. Evans' turn for her eyes to go wide. "No you stay right were you are Joker, I mean it! I..I said I couldn't go ask her what she saw because I've been told I'm not allowed to ok, so I'm stuck with being in your company for however long these stupid sessions take."

Joker couldn't help it he clasped his hands over his mouth but the fits of giggles still broke through at how ridiculously funny that was, and soon he was wooping away in his chair again, tears streaming down his face, his laughter was so loud it probably echoed down the halls. This however was the last straw for Dr. Evans, she felt that too many people had made a mockery of her this past month but having this loon consistently poke fun at her was way over the line. So her mind snapped, along with rationality and she launched herself at him, crashing into him on the chair and thrashed about at his head, trying to hit him as hard as possible. This just made the Joker laugh even harder, not really caring that she was attempting to hit him in the head.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UUUP!!!" she was screaming at him now, how had the orderlies not come into this. Still laughing the Joker grabbed both her wrists, aiming to try to stop her wriggling about on top of him, not that he minded too much, he was sort of enjoying it, but this only made her thrash the rest of her body about more erratically and their struggling soon made the chair topple, taking both of them with it. The Joker quickly rolled on top of Evans, pinning her arms above her head, and used the rest of his weight to contain her writhing. A low growl escaped her mouth, "Get the fuck off me, let me go!" She hissed at him angrily, straining her body to get free. He chuckled, very much enjoying the feel of her body struggling beneath his. "I don't think so darrrl, think you lost the right to give me orderrrs when you attacked me, that wasn't very nic-a now how am I going to get my own back."

Evans' mind was dizzy, how the hell did she get herself into this position, why hadn't the orderlies come in when they heard all the commotion? She looked up into his eyes and saw a predatory gleam to go along with a smirk that was full of dark intentions. She swallowed hard, something about his expression had started to make a familiar warm feeling form between her thighs. No that was wrong how could she be turned on by this? "I'll scream Joker." the words were feeble and not even she was convinced she'd scream. The Joker chuckled darkly, "I don't think it'll matter, I noticed the guards leave 20minutes ago and we're at the end of a veerryy long hall. So, how should I punish you doctorrrr?"

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Grinning to himself, he pulled out of her and pulled his trousers up, knowing for him that it wasn't

quite over yet. Standing up he looked down at her spent form, her eyes half shut content and in a state of bliss, not at all aware of what he had planned for her now. He chuckled, she had just been too easy. Her eyes opened more to the sound of his laughter and she looked up at him expectantly.

"Aren't you going to untie me now that we've finished with today's session?" She was more than finished, wanting to get out of this room and clean herself up before someone came in and found her like this. Her mind was still in a daze, not quite registering what they had just done .

With him.

"Oh I'm not quite finished ye-t." The Joker was now wandering around her office, apparently trying to look for something, she watched confused as he moved over to her desk and started rummaging through her draws. She was beginning to get impatient with him, especially since her wrists were becoming quite sore.

"What in god's name are you looking for, stop messing about and untie me, someone could come in at any minute and find me like this, and you'll get us both in trouble." she strained her head to try to see what he was doing but it was hard to manoeuvre with her hands tied above her head, plus he was now crouching down behind her desk.

The Joker ignored her, he was getting a agitated that he couldn't find what he wanted as he dumped the contents of her draws in messy heaps on the floor. A glint caught his eye and he smiled, happy to have finally come across something he could use. Picking up the small hand mirror, he only glanced at his reflection for a second, frowning at the reminder that he wasn't wearing his make-up, before smashing it onto the ground.

Evans jumped at the shattering sound, "Joker, seriously I really think you should stop what ever It is you're doing and let me go, time is getting on and Arkham is expecting me, he'll send someone soon."

He suddenly came into her line of vision, a wave of relief began to wash over her but it stopped abruptly when she caught sight of a large, jagged shard of glass glinting dangerously in his hand. A lump caught in her throat as he sauntered over to her, his expression no longer held the usual smirk or grin she had become accustomed to; there was something far more sinister expressed in his eyes, and it sent a chill through her body.

"Wh..why do you have that?" her eyes were wide with fear now as he crouched next to her head, twirling the sharp piece of mirror between his fingers. He cocked his head to the side, soaking in her terrified state, god how he had missed this. He ran a hand a long her lips and cheek making her flinch and she started to try to desperately wriggle away from him as he brought the jagged shard close to her face. A tear slowly slid down her cheek, "Jo-Joker..." the words came out choked, her fear too intense. The Joker calmly wiped the tears, which had begun to stream down her cheeks, with his thumb.

"Now now doctor, shhhh, there's no need for tears. I just want to make you smile."

Well as I said If you're old enough there is a more explicit version of this chapter at , which is for 18s and over only. Hope you liked the chapter please let me know what you think. :-)


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